


Dad, get me out of this

by columbine_and_asphodel (onlycrooks)



Series: The Innocent Bystander [4]
Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: F/M, I know that's not the name but it's got assonance, Kamekona's Shrimp Shack, M/M, Marital Problems
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-04-27
Updated: 2012-04-27
Packaged: 2017-11-04 10:27:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/392834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/onlycrooks/pseuds/columbine_and_asphodel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She's glorious, as soft as her father pretended not to be, but there are shadows under her eyes and a gathering of tears beneath her softly closed lids that remind him she's no longer a little child who can be kept in the dark about things. She sees more than she ought to.</p><p>Or: Steve has an argument, pays his respects, meets Grace for dinner and makes a few discoveries.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dad, get me out of this

**Author's Note:**

> I've edited/added a bit to this chapter because of a bit of loose string in the beginning of it that I couldn't/didn't want to take out. The new bit takes place during the dinner conversation.

The months turn into years, and Steve is thirty nine, married to a beautiful woman who challenges him and makes him laugh, and he has a job that, thanks to HPD and his taskforce regrouping, genuinely does good for his beautiful island.

Unfortunately, there is something missing in his life, and it's been the subject of the countless fights he's been having with Cath: children. For most of his life, Steve has wanted to have children- had come to think Cath wanted to as well- but now he's discovering that his wife doesn't really want children. In fact, Cath has said on more than one occasion that she doesn't particularly like them. He'd never dream of forcing her, of course, but still, his heart truly aches every time he sees someone with a child, can't help but watch them until they're out of sight, has even spent time online looking at baby books and baby clothes.

He and Cath argue that morning, just as they do every morning now. It starts because while she's happy with good morning kisses and snuggling, she no longer appreciates anything more, whereas Steve has always been more appreciative of sleepy morning sex- particularly since he's still recovering from getting shot in the leg and isn't up to their usual bouts of energetic sex before bed.

Cath cries and shouts at him, but Steve has already withdrawn into his head and just stares through her, no longer able to summon up the energy to fight. Eventually she calms, or at least stops screaming, but when he goes to offer comfort, his hand is slapped away. He knows that he shouldn't hold it against her, that they're both over-tired from working the last case, but the knowledge doesn't make it hurt any less.

They're falling apart, and everyone can see it.

Wordlessly, he leaves her in their bedroom and goes to the truck. Today is a Sunday, so he doesn't have to go to work, but there's somewhere else he has to go.

* * *

The graveyard is large, its headstones, mausoleums and monuments evenly spaced across its small hills and dips, as well as some small patches of trees scattered among the stone and grass. Someone has recently mowed the area he's visiting, but even if the grass were to grow as tall as he, Steve would still be able to find the headstone. He's visited it often enough that he knows its location better than his father's.

He isn't expecting to see anyone else there, though. He knows that Mr. and Mrs. Powers prefer to visit on Carl's birthday, rather than the anniversary of his death, and that the boy's friends come in the evening so they can sneak alcohol in with them and make drunken noises to cover up their continued grieving without getting in trouble. He's never seen anyone at the headstone on this day before, but nevertheless, he can see two people have beaten him to it. They're nearly of a height; the broad-bodied man (probably someone in manual labor or a fighter) stands with his head bent and allows a very slender girl (an early adolescent, most likely) to wrap her arms around one of his, an umbrella in his other hand, which he carefully holds over her.

As he approaches them, he realizes that he knows them. It's been three years, but he'd recognize them anywhere.

_Danny and Gracie._

They're both thinner than they used to be, especially Danny, and Grace has almost overtaken her short father, but there's no doubting it. He continues to study them and discovers more changes. Danny's wearing a white tee and khaki shorts, so new scars on his leg are visible, as well as the fact that he's carefully not putting much weight on his leg with the injured knee. Steve had thought that after the surgery and months of physical therapy it had recovered almost completely, but looking at the blond man now, it seems that the pain has worsened.

Hoping to find something more encouraging, Steve turns his gaze to Grace. She has her mother's thin frame and stance, though her youth makes it look more awkward and uncomfortable than regal. Given time, however, Steve's sure that she'll be as elegant as her mother, especially if she has any of Danny's tenacity- which is almost guaranteed. She'd shown flashes of it as a young girl, occasionally butting heads with her father and holding her ground almost as stubbornly. Looking at her now, with her too long body, she looks overly skinny, which worries him. He's familiar with the way Danny eats. It had been both disgusting and comedic, the way the man had been almost unable to eat anything without absolutely stuffing his face, and Grace had been just like him, however much her choices had tended to be more healthful than Danny's.

It's then that he realizes that they're probably so thin because Danny took a huge hit in pay. Even with the paycheck from Five-0 he hadn't been able to afford a really good apartment. There's no way he earns anywhere near the same amount now, so of course they wouldn't be able to have lots of food.

Rachel can certainlly pay for enough food for Grace, but Steve remembers seeing... a certain something that said that even though Rachel had the majority of time in the custody agreement, Grace was unofficially spending the majority of time with Danny.

It makes sense, actually. With Charlie and Stan, Rachel has a newer family, and in Grace's mind, that probably means that she doesn't feel very comfortable around them. It isn't anyone's fault, but around Rachel, Grace is a symbol of the past. Around Danny, though, she's a precious gift he treasures and would never let anything ever make her feel left out. It's one of Danny's gifts, his ability to make people feel that they have a home in him. Steve can remember the feeling well.

Even though he's waiting a fair distance away, pretending to be paying his respects to... Jay Kapule, divorcee and father of none, killed by a stray bullet, Steve's gut still clenches when Danny shifts and casts his gaze around the cemetary.

He shakes his head and tries not to think that there's any symbolism in the situation.

A few minutes later, he hears the sounds of the Williamses leaving. Risking a quick glance up, he sees Danny walking away in the opposite direction, as Grace... runs to him?

Her skinny arms are around his waist and her head against his chest before he has any time to process what's happening. His brain is stuck in the middle of rejoicing at seeing the girl again, of feeling her wide smile against his chest, and it isn't until she pulls away, her entire face lit up like a candle, that he thinks to reach over and pull her back into another, tighter hug, even lifting her off the ground and spinning her. The sound of her laughter is refreshing, and something at the back of his mind eases. He hadn't realized it, but he hadn't thought he'd see her again after Danny-

"Grace-"

"It's fine, Uncle Steve," she says as he puts her down, a knowing look on her face. "I didn't say anything- just that there was something I wanted to look at- but I think Danno knew, and all he said was not to take too long."

He stares at her for a moment, then smiles. The smile she gives him in return is just like her father's; it fills everything in her face with happiness. Seeing it fills him with both happiness and regret, but he has plenty of time to contemplate the darker emotion later. He wants to focus on the joy in her eyes right now.

"I've missed you, Gracie. I didn't think I'd see you again, and-"

"Me, too, Uncle Steve, but you know... Danno never said I couldn't see you."

"He didn't?" Steve asks, somewhat lost.

"Nope, I just didn't think about seeing you without him. Then I got worried that you wouldn't remember me, so I stopped trying to think of ways to run into you."

"Of course I remember you!" he says, laughing, only barely remembering not add that he loves her in time. It would've been all right years ago, but now...

"Will you come to dinner, then? Please?" Grace interrupts his thoughts, excited.

"I don't think your dad would want to see me at the dinner table..."

"Oh, no, I meant just the two of us! Danno has to work tonight anyway."

"Are you sure he won't mind?" he asks, still worried what Danny's reaction might be.

"Trust me, Uncle Steve," she answers, earnest. "It's fine."

"Well, if you're sure..."

She doesn't say anything, only gives him a look that says, quite plainly, that she thinks he's being stupid. It reminds him of Danny, just as everything else about her does.

"All right then," he laughs, pushing away the sadness that's become attached to the thought of Danny. "Where would you like to go?"

* * *

Cath isn't home when he returns, but there's a note on the calendar marked "Girls' Night!" so he doesn't worry.

He spends the rest of the day swimming and surfing at one of the public, if more secluded, beaches. He's been so wrapped up in work and the way his relationship with Cath is unraveling, that he hasn't taken any time to relax, and it takes him by surprise when he realizes just how tense his muscles had been.

It's five thirty by the time he's showered and gotten dressed in dark dress pants and a white polo at Grace's request for, "Casual but no cargoes- I know you, Uncle Steve." It sparks another bittersweet smile at how much she reminds him of her father. Danny's snark must be a family trait, as Grace is proving to have no reservations about teasing him, the same way her father hadn't. Steve's certainly been on the receiving end of the Williams wit- a title he'd given sarcastically but that Danny had taken to using- often enough to recognize it.

He arrives right on time to pick Grace up, and just as he's considering getting out, she comes sprinting out. Just as he has, she's dressed up a bit: white shorts, a three quarter sleeve beige button-down with matching belt and hemp sneakers. Apparently Danny passed on his good style, as well as his ridiculous love of button-downs. Judging by the shoes, however, Grace didn't pick up her father's insistence on wearing impractical footwear.

With a smile, he jumps out, walks around the truck and opens her door, standing behind it with a bow.

She sees him and laughs, moving past the door to give him an enthusiastic hug before hopping in the cab.

They're quiet on the way to the "restaurant" Grace had picked out earlier. He smiles as he remembers how hopeful she'd looked when she'd asked to get food there so she could visit him. Steve had been helpless to do anything but agree and been rewarded with an ecstatic giggle and a kiss on the cheek.

As soon as the car is parked, Grace is unbuckled and racing toward Kamekona's truck's open window. Steve follows at a slower pace but is sure to keep her in sight. For a moment, he guiltily allows himself to indulge in the fantasy that he's coming here with his own child.

The fantasy is broken when he hears Kamekona calling out happily for "the little card shark" to get whatever she wants, that it's all on the house.

Steve, like the rest of the team, hadn't realized that Kamekona would miss Grace as much as he had until the day they'd caught him cooking furiously, mumbling to himself about finding something worthy of the name "The Grace Special."

By the time he reaches her, Grace has two plates in her hands that are piled high with all sorts of health-massacring shrimp dishes. When she gives him a proud smile and asks, "What are you getting, Uncle Steve?" he can't stop the laughter than bubbles up from his belly.

Once he's found a creation that appears to be the least likely to kill him, he and Grace carry the food to one of the tables set up nearby and dig in silently.

Eventually, Grace asks him how the rest of the team is, if Kono's knee is okay, if Chin had found the cord he had needed last she saw him and if Max is coming on more missions. Steve answers those questions and all the others she has as best he can. When he gets the courage to ask her about school, he finds himself bombarded with stories that make him laugh or tsk or make any other of a range of different sounds, all of which seem to make Grace nod in approval.

It takes him a while, but he manages to ask her how Danny is. The question itself is rather bland, "...and what does Danny think about you getting a detention for something your friend did?" but he can tell that she sees past the careful way he asks it. Both she and her father have always been able to see through the fronts he puts up between himself and the world.

"He said that he wasn't angry about the detention," she responds slowly, "but that I should be sure that Steph really did appreciate what I did for her."

More than the direct implications of the words, the fact that Danny said that to her tells Steve how much he's hurting. He can't remember any time from the past when Danny had let Grace see his insecurities, let alone almost directly told her that he wasn't sure his team- his _friends_ \- recognized his worth. Danny had often sounded frustrated with him- and sometimes Kono- particularly during the case when they'd been investigating Meka's murder and only Chin had taken Danny's side, but Steve had never suspected that every time Danny had sulked or shouted that he was owed an apology that that was his way of asking for recognition.

As Steve looks back, he realizes with a start that he can count on one hand the number of times he'd actually said, plainly, that Danny had done a good job, that he was appreciated.

A small hand touches his, and when he looks up, Grace is looking at him solemnly.

"Danno never said he regretted working with you, you know," she says quietly. "Mom told me once that Danno's very fragile, like the special china plates we never use, and that it doesn't take much to hurt him. He's... actually very soft, and even though he works so hard all the time to hide it, Danno usually winds up getting hurt by the people he loves the most. When I asked her why he doesn't stop, she just said, 'Each of us bears his own Hell.'"

"Virgil?"

Grace shrugs, obviously used to her mother's advanced literary knowledge. "I guess she meant that he doesn't stop because it's who he is. Danno was made to get hurt, and there's nothing he can do about it."

Steve nods, looking at the table and and feeling a new wave of guilt wash over him. He hurt Danny more than he'd realized, and that how ever much he's been thinking Danny might have been hurting, the man's actual pain must be infinitely greater.

"That's why you have to help him, Uncle Steve." Surprised, Steve looks back at her, but she continues before he can say anything. "He quit his job at the mall and took up teaching self-defense classes for rich women like Mom, but I don't think that that's all he does. A few months ago, I heard him talking on the phone in German- which he _never_ does anymore- and when I looked through his recent calls, I saw that he'd been talking to Aunt Anja."

"Anja?" Steve asks. "Who's that?"

Grace studies him closely for a moment, then continues. "Aunt Anja used to help Danno when he worked in Jersey, but he always tried to keep her away from me. The one time I met her, she smiled a lot and was very pretty, but Danno got mad and told her to leave. Every time he had to go see her, it made him sad. If he's talking to her now, then I think it's because he's working with her again."

"Do you know what she does, Gracie?" Steve pushes, worried about his former partner.

She shakes her head. "I'm not really sure, but I know that Danno doesn't like it. He hasn't been coming home until late, like two o'clock, the past couple months, and every time I check his phone, it's on one of the nights he's been talking to Aunt Anja."

Somehow, a part of Steve knows what's going on, but it doesn't share with the rest of him, so he concentrates on Grace and how unhappy she is at the thought of her Danno being in trouble. He instinctively takes her hands in his, lightly squeezing them as he looks her straight in the eye.

"I promise you, Grace, that I'll find out what's happening with Danno."

The worry lines he hadn't realized were forming around the girl's eyes ease a bit at Steve's words, and she gives him a small nod, though the lines don't go away completely.

"But, Uncle Steve..."

"Yes?"

"He got a call today."

* * *

Eight o'clock has come and started to slip away when Steve pulls up to the apartment where Danny and Grace are living , absently noting that it's similar to one from when he and Danny were first partners. As Grace walks back inside, Steve sees someone come out. From the way Grace latches onto him, Steve can tell that it's Danny.

They hug for a few moments, but Danny manages to extricate himself from Grace's hold and makes his way to the Camaro, which happens to be parked a few cars ahead of Steve, who's glad he decided to cut the engine as well as the cabin lights. He's lying across the driver's seat and into the passenger's seat, pretending to look for something as he listens to the sound of the Camaro purring into wakefulness and pulling forward.

He lets a few moments pass, then ignites the truck's ignition, discreetly following Danny.

* * *

Steve will never admit to how much trouble it was, getting into the building he saw Danny enter, because while the other man could simply walk in, Steve has no idea what's inside. He doesn't have backup, and he doesn't have eyes on or in the building. He only has a knife, his badge and a couple of zip ties.

A little under an hour later, though, he makes it inside and follows what sounds like his partner's voice, though he can't make out what he's saying.

Moving swiftly and quietly, Steve manages to navigate the hallways without getting caught and even finds the door behind which he can hear Danny making sounds Steve's never heard him make before. Without a second thought, or a moment to think what those sounds could mean, he kicks the door in.

He isn't prepared for what he finds.

**Author's Note:**

> Anja is a German name, so the j should be pronounced like a y in English.
> 
> (Grace's clothes for the dinner with Steve come from the latest VS catalog, so I can claim that they are stylin'. Minus the sneakers. The model's feet were hidden and I figured that "hemp sneakers" was sufficiently vague for me not to sound like an idiot.)


End file.
